It remains to be seen exactly what Liverpool’s plan is during this summer’s transfer market.
The Reds tend to do things a little differently to their Premier League rivals and often operate a little under the radar.
Nevertheless, Liverpool do also usually have some players through the door by now. In each of the last three summers the Reds had signed at least one player by the second week of June.
Now pushing ahead towards late July, Arne Slot is still yet to make his first addition to the Liverpool squad.
Up until Wednesday, that had seemed like being just fine to Liverpool. They have not gone in for any one player only to miss out on him or anything like that. Unfortunately, that has now changed.
Liverpool proven wrong over Leny Yoro
There has not been an awful lot of credible or concrete transfer links for Liverpool fans to get excited over this summer.
There have been lots of rumours in the meantime, though. The latest of these suggest that Liverpool could move to sign Mohamed Simakan from RB Leipzig.
One that was getting Reds supporters interested was the race to sign Lille defender Leny Yoro.
Yoro was said to be a ‘dream’ target for Liverpool and although a long shot, the transfer had looked to have a small possibility of happening.
READ MORE: The two reasons Liverpool decided not to push harder to stop Leny Yoro joining Man United
The reason it seemed a little unlikely, though, was because Liverpool felt Yoro was going to Real Madrid. That view was turned on its head on Wednesday, as Manchester United moved to the verge of signing the 18-year-old.
Taking to his YouTube channel to give the latest on the evolving situation, transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano detailed where Liverpool had gone wrong.
“Liverpool considered Leny Yoro as a target this summer and they also made contact with the agents of the player,” Romano explained.
“But the feeling from Liverpool has always been that Yoro was going to be a Real Madrid player. So, Liverpool never had the feeling that it was possible to convince Leny Yoro. Manchester United presented an incredible proposal to Lille, this was a crucial part of the story.”
Liverpool left with egg on their face
Liverpool’s recruitment team are often given a lot of praise for the way they work, so it’s only fair to point out when they drop the ball, too.
Having been stung by Real Madrid in the transfer market in the past, perhaps you can understand their reticence to get involved with the European champions again.
But with a player as good as Yoro could potentially become, there was no reason to pull out so early.
Ultimately, there has already been some reasons put forward as to why Liverpool will not be signing Yoro. But it sounds a little like they simply got blindsided by United.
Time will of course tell whether that ‘incredible proposal’ to Lille will be worth it. From a Liverpool point of view, they’ll be hoping not.
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